Baras Rodirya
Baras Rodirya was a Bajoran male from the Federation member world of Bajor who, using the alias Ishan Anjar, served as the Federation Councillor for the Third Republic of Bajor and then as Federation President Pro Tempore following the assassination of Nanietta Bacco in the year 2385. ( |Revelation and Dust}}) Biography The Occupation A stern man, Baras had grown up on Bajor during the Cardassian Occupation. ( |The Crimson Shadow| A Ceremony of Losses}}) In the year 2369, following an attack on the Olanda labor camp, Baras and a Bajoran Resistance fighter named Ishan Anjar were captured on the planet Jevalan by the Cardassian Guard. Following his capture, Ishan was interrogated and ordered executed by Gil Rakan Urkar. Baras was actually a double agent, working for Gul Pavok, the labor camp commendant, but also using this compromised position to achieve gains for the Bajoran Resistance. Pavok would have the two men's identities swapped in preparation for inserting Baras back into the camp's population. Baras was not released from imprisonment, but instead escaped when the detention facility came under attack. The information Baras had given up was used to lay waste to much of the Bajoran population in the labor camps. Baras watched the destruction with two other Resistance fighters — it appears he then killed those other witnesses to maintain his new identity. In the face of the death caused by the Cardassians and himself, Baras promised never to let such victimhood happen to his people again. ( |Peaceable Kingdoms}}) With the destruction of the labor camp and the general degredation of records from the Occupation, Baras was secure in his new identity as Ishan Anjar. He returned to Bajor, and began his political career in the Bajoran government following his world's liberation later that year. "Ishan" ascended very quickly up the ladder of the Bajoran political hierarchy, and had largely escaped public scrutiny as a result. Nonetheless, he retained a reputation for illicit back-room dealing in spite of never being accused of wrong-doing. ( |A Ceremony of Losses}}) Federation Councillor Still under the alias Ishan Anjar, Baras was elected Federation Councillor for the Third Republic of Bajor in 2384. Federation Starfleet Captain Ro Laren, stationed between Bajor and the new , had heard rumors that "Ishan" had maneuvered Krim Aldos, the previous Councillor from Bajor, out of the position. ( |Revelation and Dust}}) In spite of some viewing his election as a dead-end career move, "Ishan" quickly achieved prominence on the Federation Council. Neither the media nor the background checks of the Federation Security Agency uncovered his real persona. ( |A Ceremony of Losses}}) Ishan's chief ally and de facto chief-of-staff was the hawkish Tellarite politician Galif jav Velk, a former businessman. They both felt the Federation was threatened unnecessarily by the Typhon Pact, by the secession of Andor and numerous other political crises under the stewardship of current president, Nanietta Bacco. In collusion with Ishan, Velk would formulate a plan to replace current Federation President Bacco with Ishan. Velk would contact Cardassian extremist elements, the True Way - unhappy with the Cardassian Union's close relationship with the Federation and desiring militaristic isolationism - to assassinate Bacco and place evidence that the Tzenkethi Coalition, one of the most unpredicatable and antogonistic elements of the Pact, was responsible. Velk was aware of Ishan's real identity thanks to a forensic archaeologist from Jevalan - a fact that "Ishan" was unaware of. ( |Peaceable Kingdoms}}) President Pro Tempore On 28 August 2385, following the assassination of Bacco at the dedication ceremony for the new Deep Space 9, "Ishan" was selected by the Council to serve as President Pro Tempore for the statutory term of sixty standard days. ( |Revelation and Dust}}) As President Pro Tempore, "Ishan" began positioning himself for the special election at the end of his short term. He took an immediately beligerent stance, appealing to a Federation suffering from numerous political and military setbacks. One of Baras's first decisions upon becoming President Pro Tempore was to delay the final withdrawal of Federation Starfleet forces from Cardassia Prime, citing concerns over civil unrest and the rise of the Cardassian nationalist movement. At the urging of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard, he relented upon Cardassian Ambassador Elim Garak declaring his candidacy for the office of Castellan. He also dropped treaty limits on the arming of the Cardassian Guard. Baras then ordered the starship to Ferenginar, ostensibly to head off potential diplomatic controversy with the Ferengi Alliance. Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Leonard James Akaar remarked of Ishan's motives for such an unusual order that he "keeps his own counsel". ( |The Crimson Shadow}}) Shortly after taking office as President Pro Tempore, Baras ordered a unilateral Federation embargo of the Andorian Empire, citing the role of Andorian Ensign Rahendervakell th'Shant in the rogue Typhon Pact attack on the original Starbase Deep Space 9 in 2383, and the Andorian government's willingness to be courted for membership in the Typhon Pactt by the Tholian Assembly. This embargo led to severe depletions in the availability of vital foodstuffs and medicines on Andor, which was still recovering from the Borg Invasion of 2381, causing a great deal of suffering amongst the population. A number of Federation-registered merchantmen later changed registries to independent planets in order to transport replacement supplies from Typhon Pact worlds. In the midst of this embargo, Starfleet Commander Julian Bashir, chief medical officer of the new Deep Space 9, took it upon himself to find a final cure for the ongoing Andorian reproductive crisis. It was brought to Baras's attention that Bashir had likely compromised the security of Starfleet's files on the Taurus meta-genome by Starfleet Intelligence liaison Dalit Sarai (an act of insubordination against her superiors on Sarai's part), and Baras ordered the immediate cessation of Bashir's ad hoc medical conference and his arrest on espionage and treason charges. President Pro Tempore "Ishan" subsequently refused to accept Bashir's argument that the Federation should provide the cure Bashir had developed to the Andorians, citing his belief that to do so would be to reward their decision to secede from the Federation and court the Typhon Pact, and to encourage other worlds to threaten secession to pressure the Federation government. When Bashir escaped Starfleet custody and reached Andor, Baras personally ordered the to launch a covert mission to infiltrate the Andorian surface and capture Bashir before he could share the cure, and the to prevent the from assisting Bashir. While Bashir was captured, the Aventine was able to transmit specifications for the cure to Andorian industrial medical fabrication facilities, leading to the end of the Andorian fertility crisis. In the course of the political crisis Bashir's quest for a cure had precipitated, Baras and Velk came into conflict with Federation Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Leonard James Akaar on several occasions. Baras also issued direct operational orders to Starfleet crews in the field on three occasions, in violation of Federation law and the Starfleet Code of Military Justice. Fleet Admiral Akaar personally confronted Baras with his violations of the chain of command in the Presidential Office, and later concluded that he would require an ally in Starfleet Headquarters who was not associated with the pro tempore administration. ( |A Ceremony of Losses}}) During the Bashir crisis, Baras boarded a dedicated Starfleet presidential transport, Starfleet One, to travel to Betazed to campaign for his candidacy in the 2385 Special Federation Presidential Election. In the view of Fleet Admiral Akaar, the other announced candidates for this race were undistinguished. However, subsequent to a vote of no confidence on Andor, a new Presider of the Parliament Andoria, Solloven zh'Felleth, was elected. The new zh'Felleth government quickly repealed the Parliament Andoria's prior Secession Act of 2382, and Presider zh'Felleth then personally contacted the Federation Council to submit the Andorian Empire's application for re-admission to the Federation. As a result, Progressive Party leader Kellessar zh'Tarash declared her intention to stand for election against "Ishan" for the presidency. Upon learning of Leader zh'Tarash's intentions from Federation Exterior Secretary Safranski, Baras was noticeably displeased. Fall from Position In October of 2385 the deception was finally uncovered, and the truth of what happened was revealed to the Council. Following the discovery of this information by Doctor Crusher and the Enterprise, Baras Rodirya was arrested in front of the Federation Council on the charges of violating the oath of office, full faith and confidence of the citizens of the Federation, purposeful misrepresentation, complicity in the mistreatment and murder of Bajorans during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, and that he had helped plan the murder of President Bacco. ( |Peaceable Kingdoms}}) Baras faced a sentence of life imprisonment for his crimes. ( ) Connections category:bajorans category:politicians category:federation Presidents category:federation Presidents Pro Tempore category:political leaders